Activists from Defend Peace Djilang took action inside Defence Minister Richard Marles’ electoral office on February 25 calling on him to stop approving export permits of F35 parts to Israel.
Three protestors locked themselves with bicycle D-locks and chains to a removalist trolley.
Others blue-tacked “WANTED” posters to the wall. They featured Marles, Minister for Defence Industries Pat Conroy, Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong and officials from the Department of Defence including Greg Moriarty, former Secretary of the Department and now Ambassador to the United States, Hugh Jeffrey, David Knockles and Chris Deeble.
A series of posters also condemned Thai Airways for transporting F35 parts on passenger flights from Gadigal Country/Sydney to Bangkok to the Nevatim air base in Israel.
They held up a banner saying: “Marles to The Hague”.
Jaimie Jeffrey said: “Israel has been using F35 fighter jets to murder innocent civilians including 20,000 children in Palestine and turn Gaza to rubble.”
She said about 70 companies in Australia “make parts for these jets” and we say that the defence officials and ministers who approve export permits for these parts know “full well that they will be used to commit war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide”.
They, along with Thai Airways executives, are in breach of international law, Jeffrey said. “The Department of Defence and Thai Airways have carried out these exports in a very sneaky and secretive way to avoid oversight.”
Protesters holding banners handed out leaflets at the check-in desk of Thai Airways at 8am on Gadigal Country/Sydney, alerting passengers to the 71 shipments of F35 weapons parts to Israel in the cargo hold of Thai Air flights.
Others did the same at Tullamarine Airport in Naarm/Melbourne during the check-in for a Thai Air flight to Bangkok. They held up banners reading “Thai Air flies death to Gaza”.
Both groups were moved on by police after approximately 45 minutes at the check-in counter.
“We are saying ‘Don’t fly Thai’ because Thai Air is shifting F35 fighter jet parts to support the Israeli genocide in Gaza,” spokesperson Amy Nguyen said.
“We would like to know which defence department official is signing the export permits for these F35 shipments to Israel because it’s totally against genocide law to send military supplies to a genocide.
“We are going to come back and catch the Thai Airways afternoon flight to Bangkok as well because we reckon people will not want to sit on a plane that has weapons bound for genocide underneath them in the cargo hold,” said Nguyen
Sarah Blumfeld criticised the illegality and secrecy of the F35 shipments. “Not only is this an abrogation of Australia's commitment to International Humanitarian Law, as a signatory to the Genocide Convention, but it is a deeply disturbing betrayal of the social contract. This creep of militarisation into civilian infrastructure under conditions of secrecy is intolerable.”
Anyone travelling on commercial flight overseas would not know that they were unwitting participants in the weapons’ trade, she said.
Vera Carocuore, an organiser of the #dontflythai campaign, said: “Thai Air is only a small cog in Lockheed Martin’s genocidal profit machine, but it is a critical cog.
“Australian Defence Department officials and Thai Airways executives are in breach of Australian Defence Export Regulations (2013), the UN Arms Trade Treaty (2013) and of the Genocide Convention (1948).
“Holiday makers do not want to board flights stuffed with bomb door actuators for Israel’s F35 fleet,” Carocuore said.